Game apparatus



(No Model.)

C. B. CAMBURN. GAME APPARATUS.

No. 591,737. Patented Oct, 12,1897.

i N A UNITED STATES vPATENT OEEICE.

CHARLES B. OAMBURN, OF COLD POINT, PENNSYLVANIA.

GAM E APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 591,737', dated October 12, 1897.' Application'iiled January 26, 1897. Serial No. 620,749. (No model.)

"0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES B. CAMBURN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cold Point, in the county of Montgomery and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Garne Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Illy invention relates to gaine apparatus or puzzles; and it consists generally of a board ruled off into squares colored and arranged in the order described hereinafter, a set ot' pieces or men corresponding in number with the number of squares of one color and a crown adapted to fit the heads of any of the pieces7 the whole constituting a puzzling game affording considerable amusement.

The invention is fully shown in the accompanying drawings, whereinv Figure l is a plan view of the board. Fig. 2 shows in side elevation the pieces or men and the crown.

Referring to the views, A denotes a board of wood or metal, or a card of Celluloid, rubber, pasteboard, or any other light and relatively rigid material. The board is divided or ruled off into squares or spaces, of which there are twenty-four (24) of one color, preferably red, and twenty (20) of another color, preferably white. Although I have selected these colors, I wish it understood that I do not intend to be restricted thereto, but contemplate anyother contrasting colors or designations.

The set of pieces or men B (shown in Fig. 2) correspond in number to the number of the white squares-that is to say, in the present embodiment of the invention there are twenty (20) pieces.

The letter C ldenotes a crown of some pleasing ornamental design that is adapted to fit on any of the pieces, but which mustbe placed on a particular one of them, after they are arranged on the board, in order to work out the puzzle, and the key to the solution lies in the proper selection in the first instance of the correct piece to crown, as will hereinafter be more fully explained.

I have shown the board A as of a generally rectangular outline, except that one side (preferably the lower one as the board is held when in play) has an extension gradually diminishing in width to correspond with the decreasing number of squares on the board at that side. Imay, however, make the board of any desired shape, so long as the arrangement of squares on it is practically the saine as shown herein.v Y

In Fig. l the shaded squares are the red ones and those having the stars are white. Beginning at the edge of the board opposite the extension the red squares are ruled o in horizontal lines, 'in the first, third7 and fifth of which there ,are four each, While in the second and fourth there are three each. Alternating with these red squares are the white ones, the numerical arrangement of which is just the reverse of the red ones-that is to say, in the first, third, and fifth there are three, and in the second and fourth there are four, and the arrangement of all the squares is such that in any direction across the board, except a diagonal one, the red and White squares alternate. As thus far described, the ruling fills up the body of the board and the arrangement of squares in the extension is 'the same except Yas to number, there being a gradually-decreasin g number of red and white ones to the point. As shown in Fig. l, there are just three rows of squares in this eXtension. In the first row there are three red and two white squares, in the second two red and one white, and in the last, or more properly speaking, the point,7 there is but one square, and that a red one.

Although I have shown the board as containing twenty-four red squares and twenty white ones, I do not wish to be limited to this number, as the size of the board and consequently the number of squares may be varied. Whatever the number of squares, however, it will be necessary to have the same relative arrangement and number as illustrated and described herein. men must, of course, in any modication of the present arrangement correspond to the number of white squares. 1 Such being the construction of my apparatus the manner of playing the game or working out the solution of the puzzle is as follows: All the piecesare J'irst placed in po- The number of pieces orv ICO sition on the White squares, each square being occupied by one piece. After this has been done it will be possible to remove one of the pieces from its white square and put it on one of the red squares and then to jump that piece over all the other pieces, one at a time, thus clearin g the board and leaving only that particular piece. This is rendered possible by the removal of the piece from the White square, for if all these squares were occupied it Would be impossible to solve the puzzle. The pieces being in readiness to begin play and the player having selected the proper piece, he places the crown on the head of that piece and proceeds to jump the piece over the White spaces, removing the pieces on the White squares, one at a time, as he proceeds, precisely as in the game of checkers or drauglits The difiiculty with the puzzle lies in the selection of the proper piece to be crowned and its removal to the proper red square from Which' the jumping of the piece begins. There is only one piece on the Whole board that the puzzle can be Worked out With, and that is the one occupying the White space lettered O, and there is only one red square upon which this piece can be placed before the jumping begins by which the solution can be obtained. I have numbered this square 1,7 and to explain the proper order in which the jumps or moves are to be made I have numbered in regular succession all the other red squares that are touched or occupied by the crowned piece in making the rounds of the squares. Having placed the man on red square No. 1, the proper moves to solve the puzzle are as follows: from 1 to 2, 2 to 3, and so on until square No. 9 is reached, then into 6 again, then to 3, then to 10, then into 1, then intoll, then into 12, then back to 10, then into 9 again, thence to 13, from there to 14,

and finally to S. found to clear the board of all the men occupying the White spaces and is the only order in which the puzzle can be solved, though of course it may be done by beginning on the left-hand side of the board instead of the vright-hand side-that is to say, putting the crowned man on No. 8 and proceeding .from there instead of from No. l-but the order of progression and the red squares .occupied This order of moves will be ber of squares in one of the sets, and a cap or crown adapted to t on any of the pieces.

2. In a game apparatus, the combination of a board ruled off into tWo sets of squares or spaces, the squares of the sets being diierently colored or designated, and arranged in lines in the form of a rectangle having an offset at one side which contains similar lines of squares, the number of squares in the lines in the oifset diminishing by twos, and one of said sets containing twenty-four squares and the other twenty, of a series of playing-pieces or men corresponding in number to the number of squares in the smaller set, and a cap or crown adapted to iit on any of the pieces.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signatur in presence of two Witnesses. CHARLES B. CAMBURN.

Vitnesses:

EDWARD E. LONG, M. H. SHOEMAKER. 

